Tag: jam

What a fantastic weekend!!! So productive, yet so enjoyable and rewarding.

Friday evening kicked off with a visit from my son and his girlfriend. My son was so excited about my suggestion for dinner. One of his favourites and so simple to make. The best thing was being able to use the produce out of my garden. I bet you’re wondering what this favourite meal is? Grilled zucchini and eggplant on Turkish bread with tzitziki. Sometimes when we cook it up together it doesn’t even make it to the plate. Instead we stand around the BBQ chatting and eating as it cooks. Perhaps this is why I love it. The fact it gives me an opportunity to chat with my 19 year old son about everything but the food is good also.

Later I made my first batch of plum jam. I bought approximately 2kgs of plum from a roadside stall for $4. Plum jam is my favourite and I just couldn’t resist. I made a second batch on Sunday and it tasted divine. I couldn’t help myself and I shared the fruits of my labour with friends as well.

The yummiest jam…Plum Jam

I can tell you it didn’t just stop at plum jam. I have reclaimed my dehydrator and had a go at making my own chilli flakes from my home grown chilli. I utilised them in the 4.5kg of pickled onions we made up. It was a very simple pickling spice made up for the vinegar.

Pickling Spice

For every litre of vinegar…

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

1tsp chilli flakes

1sp coriander seed

1 tsp mustard seeds

These are added to the warm vinegar before adding to the onions.

Pickled Onions

We did a couple of jars for a friend who likes his hot stuff. With that we added a couple of fresh chilli to the jars. Now its a sit and wait for approximately 3 weeks until tasting.

One of the General Inspectors bought into work some of his home grown garlic and I took a bag. With the garlic I had a go at making garlic powder as my partner required some for the marinade to make his beef jerky.

Next it was onto the sausages. Oh yeah we even threw sausage making into the weekend. First time I had ever made sausages and I have to say it was so much fun. We made 4.5kgs Greek lamb and 4.5kgs Burgundy beef sausages. Later in the evening we actually cooked and tried a couple of the smaller sausages. DELISH!!!

Sausage Making

With the rest of the mince we made 3kgs of hamburgers. My partner puts the mince through the sausage maker and into mettwurst skins and freezes. Once frozen he then cuts it up with a band-saw and there you have the perfect shaped hamburger.

In amongst all the produce making I also made a trip over to Big Bend. This is a beautiful spot on the Murray and quite popular.

Big Bend Lookout

I have been engaged to do an arborist report for a shack owner. I must say I love this kind of work. I also loved the fact I could take my fur baby Artoo on has first work assignment. He enjoyed it so much. He swam in the River pretty much the entire time I was at the shack. This dog is crazy about water!!!

Artoo on his first assignment

The one big lesson I learnt this weekend is I need to start doing the things I love and feel passionate about. My work life balance needs to be a priority because at the moment I seriously think I have it all wrong. This weekend was certainly a wake up call.